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Message: <blockquote data-quote="tarchon" data-source="post: 2474201" data-attributes="member: 5990"><p>Daoist or Buddhist? The Chinese Buddhist magical tradition is big on scriptures, reciting them, writing them on objects, that sort of thing. Daoists are more inclined to what would be called alchemy in the West. Both traditions placed an emphasis on asceticism, but Buddhists tended to be more communal (monks) whereas Daoists would tend to be more of the stereotypical mad hermit. Buddhism also inherited (from Hinduism) the notion of gaining divine boons through the performance of ascetic acts. Daoists sometimes recognized the existence of divine entities, but their magical practices focused more towards accruing power through knowledge and self perfection than sucking up to powerful supernatural beings. Thus I'd probably make a Buddhist-like spell caster somewhere between a monk and a cleric (Ranger strikes me as ideal, if you swap some of the special abilities-with a mandatory material written spell component). Daoists might be more like sorcerers, with an emphasis on alchemy. I might even make them something like arcane druids.</p></blockquote><p></p>